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Ancient Egypt: Four BBC documentaries

€6.00EUR

Nile, Pyramid, Egypt's Lost City and Egypt are four different BBC documentaries never before released in a box set.

Product description

NILE
PYRAMID
EGYPT'S LOST CITY
EGYPT (DISCOVERING ANCIENT EGYPT)

FOUR DIFFERENT HISTORICAL BBC DOCUMENTARIES SERIES
NEVER BEFORE OFFERED IN A BOX SET COLLECTION

A special edition box set with four great BBC documentaries.

Nile is a BBC and Discovery Channel co-production which has never been released on DVD and is not available for sale on the web. It has won a Magnolia Award for Best Photography in a Nature Documentary.

Pyramid (or Building the Great Pyramid) is a co-production of BBC, Discovery Channel and NDR in association with TBS. It has been released on a region 1 DVD (suitable for USA only). It was nominated for an Emmy Award (Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special) in 2003.

Egypt's Lost City is a co-production of BBC and Time Life, Inc. It has never been released on DVD and is only available on VHS tape from Amazon for £11.

Egypt (or Discovering Ancient Egypt), a co-production of BBC, TLC, ZDF and France 2, is available from Amazon as Egypt: Rediscovering A Lost World for £14.

The four documentaries are presented in a box set of four DVD discs with a total viewing time of 550 minutes (over 9 hours). Please note that these DVDs are region-free (all regions 1-6).

See the plot summaries and other details under Additional information.

Note: The manufacturer of the box set applied a bit of extra glue during the outer box assembly. The extra glue wet the disc case and caused a small cosmetic mark on its carton. This is the only reason we are giving this box set a 3-star rather than a 4-star mark in the self rating table below. The cosmetic damage caused can be seen next to the BBC logo in the first picture below under Product pictures.

This movie comes from our personal collection and only one piece is available
DVD Rating	Very Good: a well-cared-for DVD that has been seen, but remains in great condition. The film is complete, without interruption, and does not skip. The box may show limited signs of wear, as may the liner notes.
= New = Like New = Very Good = Good = Acceptable

Additional information

Starring	Omar Sharif (voice of Nakht), Tom Hewitt and Michael Pennington (narrators), Dr Tony Spawforth and Dr Nasry Iskander (presenters), Nicholas Reeves, Kate Spence, Ali Mohamed Soliman, Ali Ahmed Mokhtar, Lee Fern, Keith Buckley, John Colclough, John Quentin, Norman Rossignton, Paul Volrath, Catherine Schell, Ilonka Van Veen, Kenneth Haigh, Michael Gough, Ian McCulloch, Adrian Sandy, Andre van Gyseghem, Stuart Graham, Julian Wadham, Caroline Langrishe, Alex Weaver, Valentine Pelka, William Hope, Laurence Fox, Matthew Kelly, Lynsey Baxter, Nevan Finnigan, Robert Portal, Richard Dempsey, Thomas Lockyer, Joseph Long, Elliot Cowan, Stuart Bunce
Format	Box set, Colour, PAL
Main soundtrack	English or Greek (selectable), Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles	OFF or Greek (selectable)
Special features	Trailers
Region
Aspect ratio	16:9
Number of discs	4
Classification	Exempt
Studio	2 Entertain Video
DVD release date	-
Run time	550 minutes (9 hours 10 mins)
EAN	-

List of episodes

Disc 1 - Nile

The Longest river on the planet, the Nile flows from the heart of a continent uniting mountain, jungle, marsh and desert. But for such a huge and powerful river, the Nile has been reluctant to give up its secrets. Throughout history, mankind has struggled to understand it. The Ancient Egyptians thought it was magical - a gift of the gods, whilst obsessive Victorian explorers endured unimaginable hardships in their search for its source. Nilereveals the true nature of the river and the reasons behind its magic - a magnificent and diverse mosaic of strange places and fascinating animals, stretching far back into some of the remotest corners of Africa.

Episode one: Crocodiles and Kings

"It’s the longest river on Earth; flowing from the heart of the continent, it has written a story across the landscape as it forges its way North, through mountains, forests, marsh and desert. For centuries its waters have sustained life in some of the harshest places on Earth, without it this corner of Africa would be only rock and dust and sand. Civilisations have risen and fallen on its banks, without its gifts the pyramids would never have been built." (Simon MacCorkindale's opening narration).

Since the dawn of history the miraculous annual floodwaters have risen to transform the desert into a fertile paradise where the great civilisation of Ancient Egypt grew, but their existence was on a knife-edge held hostage by the river and the Pharaoh maintained the balance by appeasing the gods to ensure the gifts of the river.

The New Kingdom of Rameses and Tutankhamun began 3,500 years ago with the province of Thebes at its heart, and farmers, fishermen and temple builders thrive with the blessings of the rivers. At dawn Hamadryas Baboon climb to the top of the temples to great the sun god Ra who rides across the sky in his chariot, a sharp-eyed Peregrine Falcon bursts from the sun as a manifestation of the all-seeing Horus, and a feared Cobra hunts in the fields it’s poisonous venom manifesting the suns burning rays. The Scarab beetle embodies the sun’s daily journey, born from the ground it sculpts a sphere of dung to feed its young which emerge again in perfect continuity, while a Nile catfish feeling it’s way with long whiskers guides the sun back to the east for it’s rebirth.

The Old Kingdom of the Pyramids had been destroyed by a 20-year drought that starved much of the population; now as the waters dry up the people turn for protection to the Pharaoh who is the son of Osiris. Osiris taught the people cultivation but was murdered by his brother Seth and scattered across the land only to re-emerge as a symbol of fertility while Seth was banished to the desert from where he threatens to return with famine and death. Female Hippos, fighting to defend their young, are worshipped as Tort; Crocodiles, welcoming the heat that maintains their body temperature, are worshipped as Sobek; and flocks of sacred Ibis, signalling the arrival of the flood, are worshipped as Thoth. The land is transformed into a flooded plain while the Pharaoh oversees the construction of dams and channels to tame the floods.

The receding waters leave behind thick fertile silt from which frogs and toads are born as symbols of the land’s resurrection. The farmers sow their seeds as memorial to Osiris who in reborn again in the harvest crops only to be devoured by a swarm of locusts that poison whatever is left with their droppings. Wild dogs and jackals, scavenging the overflowing cemeteries, are worshipped as Anubis. The pharaoh death leaves the country in chaos as the body is mummified with a scarab amulet placed on the heart. As the drought approaches, with no Pharaoh to intercede with the gods, Egyptian Vultures flock over the river as a symbol of death. The Pharaoh, buried with precious provisions for his final journey, enters the Hall of Judgment where his heart is weighed against a feather by the gods.

The Pharaoh is found worthy earning his place among the gods and the Nile rises again to revitalise the valley and sustain a civilisation that would inspire all those that followed.

Episode two: The Great Flood

"The Nile, draining over 3 million km² of Africa, then flowing through one of the harshest deserts in the world, it’s the world’s longest river. This river was the powerhouse behind the world’s first great civilisation, without the Nile’s extraordinary fertility there would be no Tutankhamun, no Cleopatra, no pyramids; it changed the world forever. (Simon MacCorkindale's opening narration).

The annual flooding of the Nile brought the water and fertile volcanic soil that made the Ancient Egyptian civilisation possible, but impassable rapids made it impossible for them to discover the source of this bounty they attributed to the gods. The river stretches into Sudan through a forbidding dessert known as the Belly of Stones that was home to the Black Pharaohs of the Nubian kingdom of Kush who once ruled over their Egyptian neighbours. The Blue and White Niles merge in the Longest Kiss in History at the crossroad city of Khartoum.

The White Nile flows through the impenetrable swamps of the Sud where shifting islands of papyrus buoyed by air-sacks in the steams long prevented further exploration. White-Eared Kob form one of Earth’s greatest concentrations of large animals as they graze the neighbouring grasslands during the dry season. The native Dinka cowherds rely on their cattle for a diet of milk and blood supplemented only by fish when possible. The Dinka and Cob are forced on the move as rains swell the swamp, bursting its banks and doubling its size. A Lungfish emerges from its cocoon of mud and mucus and uses its primitive lungs to breathe air while it reaches for the nearest pool only to be caught in the oversized beak of the giant Shoebill stalk, while family groups of Speckle-throated otter and the powerful Nile monitor also hunt the waters. The Dinka and Cob return and a stranded catfish crawls to safety as the waters evaporate in the sun but this is not the source of the Great Flood.

The Blue Nile flows through dry savannah from a deep barren gorge on the fringe of the Ethiopian highlands where the Lammergeier vulture seeks out those who succumb to the drought. A volcanic plug that rose up 30 million years ago has left the region with Africa’s highest mountains, where the Hippos of Lake Tana live in the continent's highest body of water. The dry highland dome above is home to Earth’s highest density of rodents and the Egyptian Wolf which digs them up. The indigenous Gelada baboons feed exclusively on grass using their massive teeth only for the intimidation of rivals. Moisture-laden clouds from the Congo basin bring annual rains to Africa’s Water Tower that transforms the rodent’s world with lush vegetation for food and cover from predators like the Auger Buzzard. Night time freezing breaks up the topsoil of one of the oldest areas of cultivated land in Africa and it is washed downstream to the lake where Pelicans gather to feed and Weaver birds build papyrus nests. The Christian highland farmers beg the pagan river spirit Guion for mercy at times of great flood.

Ancient Egyptians had heard rumours of Lake Tana but had no idea how important the Blue Nile that flows over the Smoking Fire Falls with its fertile volcanic soil was to their civilisation.

Episode three: The Search for the Source

From the heart of Africa to the Mediterranean Sea runs the world’s longest river. Since the Egyptians first settled along its banks men have dreamt of discovering where the Nile was born, but for centuries the river kept its secrets close. The obsession grew and by the mid-19th century some were prepared to risk their lives to be the first to discover the source of the Nile.

Nomads first settled along the banks of the Nile around 5000 BC and replenished by annual floodwaters grew into the Ancient Egyptian civilisation but the source of the miraculous waters remained a mystery to them.

The Royal Geographic Society dispatched Richard Burton and John Speke to Lake Tanganyika to find the source in 1857 but unable to complete their mission Speke separated from the main party and discovered Lake Victoria. The vast lake retains water like a vast reservoir with evaporations drained back by surrounding mountains. Speke returned with James Grant a year later and discovered the outlet at Ripon Falls. The new moon rains trigger the emergence of vast breeding swarms of flies that plagued the expedition. Speke and Grant headed downstream from the outlet but were forced to take refuge at Gondokoro. Here they met with Samuel Baker and his wife who had travelled up stream in search of the source and discovered Lake Albert in 1864.

The newspaper reporter H.M. Stanley was sent to Africa in 1871 to find Dr. Livingstone who had vanished five years earlier exploring Lake Tanganyika. Together they searched unsuccessfully for the outflow till the time came for Stanley to return home. Following Livinstone’s death Stanley returned in 1874 to map all three lakes but was prevented from completing his work by warring tribes. He returned in 1881 and discovered Lake Edward that he concluded creates a vast reservoir system with the other lakes that feeds the Nile. The Mountains of the Moon between the humid forest of the Congo basin and the monsoon lands of East Africa attract rains which, regulated by the forests of mosses, liverworts, ferns and lichens, trickle down into Lakes Albert, Edward and George to feed the Nile.

Tectonic movements created a vast plateau in East Africa 10-15 million years ago and the Mountains of the Moon 12 million years ago. The African Rift Valley fractured into the along the flank of the plateau collecting water into Lakes Albert, Edward and George 8 million years ago and the plateau depressed filling into Lake Victoria less than 1 million years ago. Lake Victoria, swelled by the wet climate phase at the end of the last ice age, broke its banks 12,500 years ago and flowed into Lake Albert creating a new river that cut north into the flatlands of Sudan where it joined by the sediment filled Blue Nile before following into the Egyptian dessert where it gave birth to a civilisation 7,000 years later.

Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile_(TV_series)

Disc 2 - Pyramid and Egypt's Lost City

Pyramid

For four thousand years men have marvelled at the Great Pyramid of Giza and asked two questions: how was it built and why?

To answer those questions we will travel back in time. By combining the latest archaeological research with the most up-to-date visual technology we can for the first time see the Pyramid through the eyes of the men who built it.

Not quite documentary, not quite drama, this reenactment of a fictional conscript's life building the Great Pyramid of Giza is best described as docudrama. Omar Sharif voices the thoughts of the aged Nakht remembering the moment Egyptian soldiers drafted him into the king's service.

The 57-minute film re-creates the boat trip up the Nile and his ascent through the ranks, from delivering water to helping haul 2.5-ton blocks up ramps for the king's tomb. Interspersed are narrator Michael Pennington's historical assertions, along with contrasting footage of what the pyramid looks like today.

Source: DocuWiki http://docuwiki.net/index.php?title=Building_the_Great_Pyramid

Egypt's Lost City

A century ago, the remote desert wastelands of the Amarna plain began to yield tantalizing clues to an extraordinary and enigmatic chapter in Egyptian history. Temples destroyed or defaced, a radical pharaoh and his dream city violently and deliberately forgotten. But why? Now, unlock the mystery behind this once-mighty vanished city and the revolutionary ruler, Akhenaten, and his legendary wife, Nefertiti, that ruled there. And discover why Egyptian pharaohs, including Akhenaten's own son, Tutankhamun, would go to such lengths to erase all evidence of this amazing desert experiment.

Source: DocuWiki http://docuwiki.net/index.php?title=Ancient_Voices#Egypt.27s_Lost_City

Discs 3 and 4 - Egypt (Discovering Ancient Egypt)

Episode one: The Search for Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun vanished from history in 1324 BC following his hurried burial and the erasure of his name from all monuments. In the winter of 1898 Carter is at the temples of Deir el Bahri recording wall reliefs threatened by a freak storm when he is thrown from his horse and makes a discovery in the sand. Retired Boston lawyer Theodore M. Davis funds Carter's excavation of Queen Hatshepsut's tomb but it is found to be empty and Carter deprived of further funding is reduced to selling his paintings to tourists on the street.

In 1905 Lord Carnarvon arrives in Luxor to convalesce after a road accident and is shown an artifact bearing the cartouche of the mysterious Tutankhamun discovered by Davis on his new dig. Tutankhamun succeeded his heretical father as pharaoh at the age of 8 and was named in honour of Amun to symbolise his mission to restore the old gods and save the empire from turmoil. An inspired Carnarvon employs Carter but they are denied access to the Valley of the Kings for which only Davis has a permit. Amidst the flurry of construction that marked the beginning of Tutankhamun's reign the most important to the boy Pharaoh would have been that of his tomb. An ailing Davis announces his discovery of this, the final Pharaoh's tomb, prior to his retirement. Carter doubts the find and convinces Carnarvon to take up the concession. The methodical and meticulous excavation commences in 1914 but is quickly interrupted by World War I.

The Carnarvons return to Egypt at the end of the war and Carter recommences his excavation but with a continued lack of results leading to doubts that any undiscovered tombs are left in the valley the funding is finally cut in 1922. Tutankhamun's tomb was well concealed to ensure his undisturbed afterlife. Carter convinces Carnarvon to fund one last season during which the tomb is finally unearthed. When the tomb is opened in the presence of Carnarvon and his daughter it is revealed to be the only unplundered pharaoh's tomb in the valley.

Episode two: The Curse of Tutankhamun

In 1922 Carter goes to the Egyptian Antiquities Service in Cairo to announce his discovery but disagrees with Director Pierre Lacau over the clearance and cataloguing of the contents. The discovery revealed a dark time in the history of Egypt and the death of its boy king. Carter assembles an international team of experts to commence the work under the unwelcome scrutiny of Lacau's inspector and the western press. Canarvon's cavalier attitude to the finds he considers his property starts to infuriate both Carter and Lacau.

As the finds are slowly catalogued and removed Carter becomes close to Canarvon's daughter Evelyn but his strictness begins to alienate his team. Tutankhamun was married to his own sister but the union failed to produce an heir to secure the future of the kingdom. Stories of the curse begin to circulate as Carter breaks through into the burial chamber to reveal an intact tomb. As Lacau threatens to take over the excavation and several of the experts quit Canarvon questions Carter over his leadership and his relationship with Evelyn. When he came of age Tutakhumen took over control of the kingdom from his military advisor Ay only to die from unknown causes shortly thereafter. Carter rushes to Canarvon's death-bed where the two make-up. Upon Tutankhamun's death Ay seized the throne and married the widowed queen. Carter, disappointed by Evelyn's engagement to another man, returns to continue his work. Tutankhuman's death came before the royal tomb could be completed so he was hastily buried in the tomb Ay had prepared for himself. Lacau takes over the running of the tomb in 1924 when Carter and his team stop work to protest continued Egyptian interference.

The following year Carter is called back by Lacau to reopen the tomb with funding from Lady Canarvon. The team start to extract the nested coffins revealing one of them to be made of pure gold that confirms the presence of a Pharaoh. The team begin to notice evidence that the burial was done in a hurry as the body itself is finally uncovered. When Ay died without heir a new dynasty took to the throne that erased all references to the Boy King. In 1932 with his work complete Carter leaves the tomb for the last time and hands the key to Lacau.

Episode three: The Pharaoh and the Showman

A dissatisfied Belzoni leaves England with his wife, Sarah, and servant, James Curtin, to see the world. Finding themselves destitute in the streets of Cairo after work on an irrigation project falls through they are rescued by the eccentric John Lewis Bukhardt who introduces them to British Consul Henry Salt. Belzoni is hired to recover the massive Head of Memnon, later revealed to a statue of the Pharaoh Ramesses the Great, as a gift for the British Museum. Arriving in Luxor in 1816 amidst a gold rush of black market antiquities dealers Belzoni finds himself unwelcome.

At the Ramesseum Belzoni examines the head and devises a plan for its removal. The local Caimakan, under advice from Belzoni's French rival Bernardino Drovetti, denies Belzoni's permit and initially refuses to supply labour until threats bring him around. Ramesses marriage to his true love Nefertari was fruitful and secured the family line and the country too was fertile thanks to the annual flooding of the Nile. The approaching flood season however threatens to strand the head in the heart of the flood plain bringing an abrupt halt to Belzoni's mission. When the local labourers finally arrive Belzoni immediately sets to work moving the head using the same techniques its builders had used 3,000 years previous. Belzoni sends the ailing Jim back to Cairo to request a bigger boat so that they can collect even more antiquities and with time running out is forced to take greater risks to get the head to the bank of the Nile.

With the head secured the Belzonis heads south along the Nile to Abu Simbal in uncharted Nubia to expand the collection of antiquities. Ramesses built two temples at Abu Simbal; one dedicated his beloved wife and the other to his military prowess in the first victorious campaign. Belzoni locates the entrance to the Great Temple but finds it blocked, and so forced to head back to Cairo he vows to return to excavate the site the following season.

Episode four: The Temple of the Sands

Belzoni, arriving back in Cairo, is informed by Salt that only the head is to be sent to the British Museum while the rest of the antiquities he has collected are to be kept at the consulate. Salt refuses to fund an excavation at Abu Simbal and Belzoni is sent south again with Salt's secretary William Beechey and a local dealer called Yanni. Belzoni, whilst becalmed at Minya. spots Yenni talking to his French rival Drovetti and hastily rides to Luxor determined to get there first. Arriving to late Belzoni discovers that the entire area licensed to Drovetti and he must dig elsewhere.

Belzoni, guided by the image of Ramesses, digs in an unlicenced area and discovers a perfectly preserved bust. An infuriated Drovetti has the local ruler issue an edict against Belzoni. With no other option Belzoni heads south to the Island of Philae to collect the antiquities he has stored there only to discover upon arrival that the French have ransacked them. Funds arrive from Salt to begin evcavation at Abu Simbal and Belzoni heads to the site with two British Royal Navy officers. Work progresses slowly in the shifting dessert until Belzoni devises a plan to build a palisade to hold back the sand. With the entrance uncovered the group cautiously enter to view the magnificent interior. Belzoni records every detail of the temple decorations, which celebrate the capture of Kadesh that made Ramesses a great warrior king. Back in Luxor Belzoni, reunited with Sarah and Jim, is threatened by Drevetti but undeterred he heads deep into the western hills where he enters the Valley of the Kings. Belzoni learns from Yanni and Beechey that Salt is selling off the antiquities he collects rather than donating them to the British Museum.

Persuaded to go on with his explorations Belzoni constructs a battering ram to break through the thick walls of the valley side and open up an undiscovered tomb. Defying booby-traps Belzoni pushes on into the lavish interior of the tomb where he enters the burial chamber of the Pharaoh Seti I. It was here upon the death of his father that Ramessess started his reign, which would bring peace and prosperity to Egypt. The discovery of Belzoni's Tomb secures the Egyptologist's reputation and makes him a celebrity in his adopted home of London where the British Museum would later honour him.

Episode five: The Mystery of the Rosetta Stone

The young Champollion, encouraged to develop his gift for languages by his elder brother, becomes obsessed with deciphering hieroglyphs as a means to telling the age of the world and revenging France against the British who had confiscated the stone in 1801. When Alexander the Great had conquered Egypt he had fuelled local resentment by bringing in a Greek speaking elite to rule. Their descendant Ptolemy V had commissioned a series of stones written in Greek, common Egyptian and hieroglyphs for temples across the land to extol his virtues and underline his claim to the throne.

Champollion's studies under Silvestre de Sacy in Paris but finds the professor who had himself failed decipher hieroglyphs dismissive of further attempts believing them to be symbolic rather than a true language. English scientist Thomas Young uses mathematics to decipher the inscription like a code whilst Champollion believing hieroglyphs to be representative of a spoken language attempts to relate them to the Coptic language of Egypt's ancient Christian communities. Young makes a number of breakthroughs including the spelling of Ptolomey in hieroglyphs while Champollion finds work as assistant professor at the University of Grenoble. France is thrown into political turmoil in 1815 following defeat at the Battle of Waterloo and the republican Champollion is arrested for sedition and exiled to Figeac until 1821. Eccentric Egyptologist Giovanni Belzoni discovers an obelisk inscribed with the name of Cleopatra in Greek and hieroglyphs at Philae and sends it back to Young in England.

Young makes a mistake in translating the obelisk setting back his work whilst Champollion using a copy of the obelisk creates a hieroglyphic alphabet that he uses along with Coptic to translate the name of Ramesses the Great from sketches of Abu Simbal. Champollion's discovery arouses the suspicions of the Catholic Church who fear hieroglyphs might disprove the historical accuracy of the Bible. Young wishes Champillion good luck in proving his theories but Sacy and the Church are determined to stop him.

Episode six: The Secrets of the Hieroglyphs

Champollion is determined to travel to Egypt to prove his theory but poor and jobless he is reduced to buying up whatever scraps of papyrus he can find and this obsession alienates his wife. The Dendera zodiac purchased by the French King Charles X threatens to challenge the biblical chronologies of church scholars, as it is believed by some to date to before the Great Flood of 2349 BC. Champollion is called in to confirm Sacy's dating of the antiquity to around 2000 BC; he disputes Sacy's dating but not Church authorities by dating it to some 2,000 years later than that during the Roman period.

Champollion is sent to Turin by the King to value a collection put up for sale by the French Consul to Egypt Bernardino Drovetti. Prior to his departure Champollion's wife announces that she is pregnant and she is not pleased by his new job. Champollion is builds a strong reputation for himself in Italy even being invited for an audience with Pope Leo XII. Returning to Paris with a large collection of antiquities for the King he is put in charge of the Egyptian collection at the Louvre. The King finally agrees to fund Champollion's expedition to Egypt on the proviso that he does not publish any finds that contradict the teachings of the Church. Champollion, arriving in 1828, starts by studying the Great Pyramid at Giza discovering it to be a tomb built for the Pharaoh Khufu around 2560 BC. At Saqqara he finds the site largely stripped by dealers but in a forgotten tomb he discovers ancient hieroglyphs he translates to prove his theories. Eager to understand the Ancient Egyptians he pushes on to the ancient capital of Thebes where at the sprawling Temple of Karnak he reads the story of Ramesses the Great and the battle against the Hittites at Kadesh.

At Belzoni's Tomb in the Valley of the Kings the ailing Champollion reads the story of Pharaoh Seti I and learns of the burial rites of Pharaohs. He is thus able to comprehend the belief system of the Ancient Epyptians for the first time. Champillion dies back in France 18 months later but his legacy allows Egyptologist to comprehend the meaning behind monuments such as the Great Pyramid of Giza and to decipher papyri that lead to such discoveries as the Tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter.

Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt_(TV_series)